As ever, take into consoderation your computing environment, peripherals, drivers etc. When in doubt, check with the manufacturer for your printers, scanners, cameras etc!

Mac OS X 10.13 "High Sierra" fully-supported.

The recent acquisition of the JAMF management suite has led to huge gains in managing Apple's latest operating systems.

Slow progress is being made in lab and staff units to upgrade Macs to Mac OS 10.13 under what we have dubbed, "Managed Mac version 4" (MMV4).

Labs in Surrey and Vancouver are using the new configurartion management tools with great success and more units in Burnaby have been selected for onboarding. Expect to hear more soon!

Managed Mac OS backup software

Your friends in IT Services have included backup software on all administrative staff Macs. More info here.

iMac Pro devices

The iMac Pro absolutely requires Mac OS 10.13 and back-dating these devices in order to manage them can have distasterous results. Please make a ticket if you need to have these amazing new computers managed - we have a backup plan in place!

Full disclosure however, this will require new onboarding and a little work on your behalf - but we're here to see you through.

Preliminary testing of Mac OS X 10.13 "High Sierra"

IT Services has spent some effort evaluting the current configuration management scheme vis a vis Apple's up-and-coming operating system code named, "High Sierra". The Managed Mac puppet module will not work with OS 10.13 in its' current incarnation. In addition, security flaws continue to be found that make this OS release less-than-desirable in an enterprise environment.

Users are advised to avoid upgrading to OS 10.13 at all costs. Managed Macs running Mac OS 10.13 will be considered out-of-band and are unsupported until further notice. New Macs arriving with Mac OS 10.13 will be back-dated to Mac OS 10.12 in order to be supported.

EARLY ADOPTERS AND NEW PURCHASES

All Mac users who plan to upgrade to High Sierra are strongly encouraged to perform a full system backup prior to attempting any upgrade.

If you are unsure if you have a recent full backup, do not attempt an upgrade. Please contact your local support person.

Those who have purchased or are planning to purchase new Apple Computer should contact your local IT support to discuss options.

QUESTIONS?

About

IT Services provides a managed desktop service for over 5300 desktop (and laptop) clients. Out of these, 1560 clients are managed Mac OS computers.

The managed Mac service is an effort to build a better user experience for SFU Mac users. Our team continues to develop standardized tools and practices to better support the University's Mac community. Having a managed Mac does not preclude ownership nor administration.

The main goal is to allow you to perform your work, and leave the computer maintenance up to us.

In developing these strategies, we aim to deliver services that are flexible and intuitive, without sacrificing reliability.